Bynum's Shortened Suspension is Logical But Doesn't Make Sense
by C.A. Clark on Dec 23, 2011 12:37 PM PST
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PrintIn a twist I don't think anybody really saw coming, the NBA announced that Andrew Bynum's five game suspension for treating J.J. Barea like an airborne tackling dummy in the finale of last year's Western Conference Semifinals has been reduced to four games. The decision is strictly logical (or so we're told), with the suspension being cut by 20% because the season was cut by the same percentage.
This is certainly a big, and unexpected, gift under the Lakers' Christmas Tree. Bynum's absence was set to take place during the Lakers' most difficult stretch of the season, at least in terms of games played. The big-man rotation of Pau Gasol, Josh McRoberts and Troy Murphy were all that was available to play 5 games in 7 days, and considering that conditioning has been a major problem with the shortened preseason, one can only imagine the legs on those guys would have been mighty heavy. Now, although 4 games in 5 nights (and three back to back to back) is still a major challenge, the Lakers will spend less than a week having to adapt to a world without their potential All-Star center.
Despite the logical nature of the decision, and despite it's beneficial nature to the Lakers, I can't help but feel a little disappointed in the message being sent by the league. The nature of this decision is all business; it's like Bynum's suspension was a tax bracket that gets reduced because there is less taxable income. The problem with said analysis is that the reason for Bynum's suspension is not business related at all. He's supposed to be missing these games as a punishment because he acted recklessly and dangerously on the court. In the end, the threat of such a long suspension might do the same as requiring the full suspension itself, but what's the point of undermining your own discipline? I don't remember getting grounded for less time in the winter because daylight ended sooner.
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Are you at home today, Chris?
You're only a success for the moment that you complete a successful act. - Tex Winter
Tweetness
Ah, well, we've been missing you.
You're only a success for the moment that you complete a successful act. - Tex Winter
Tweetness
When was the last time the league did anything that made one bit of sense? They contradict themselves regularly.
what’s the point of undermining your own discipline?
You're only a success for the moment that you complete a successful act. - Tex Winter
Tweetness
Uh, how did I miss this? Probably because of the visceral topic.
Please let that great minds thing be right!
One Nation...under a groove.
There are 2 types of fans. The first type is realistic, knowledgeable and loyal. The other, is not. IAATL. It's all about the Lakers.
F Stern, for basketball reasons.
by Zen and Tonic on Dec 23, 2011 3:40 PM PST up reply actions
If there was no season at all due to the lockout, would they just cancel Bynum's suspension?
"They should go into a box and one--put the box on Kobe and the one on everyone else" - Jeff Van Gundy
it would resume the next season then
they didnt cancel it when a bunch of games for this year got axed.
No it would theoretically be cancelled with their logic
Because the season is cut down 20%, the suspension “should be” cut down 20%.
So if the season got cancelled, as in cut down 100%, the suspension should be eliminated as well. It just proves that this is a stupid way to discipline.
"They should go into a box and one--put the box on Kobe and the one on everyone else" - Jeff Van Gundy
by Mister Larry on Dec 23, 2011 7:28 PM PST up reply actions
I wouldn't
but then again, logic has taken quite the beating lately in the NBA.
"They should go into a box and one--put the box on Kobe and the one on everyone else" - Jeff Van Gundy
by Mister Larry on Dec 23, 2011 10:22 PM PST up reply actions
The point of a suspension is lost pay.
Shorter season should mean shorter suspension proportionally, if they are going to be fair. If they leave it at five games, he’s losing a larger percentage of his yearly salary due to the lockout shortened season.
At the same time, every player has lost 16 games worth of income.
From this perspective, the suspension would still apply.
Ball don't lie.
by East.Coast.Laker.Fan on Dec 23, 2011 12:52 PM PST up reply actions
And from this perspective
the need to punish Bynum for 5 games of salary also applies
It all circles back to the same place.
Exactly, Bynum should be banned from the NBA.
j/k but he still needs to be punished.
You're only a success for the moment that you complete a successful act. - Tex Winter
Tweetness
Arent his injuries enough?
lol jokes aside, this is some positive momentum we can build on!
Maybe the whole idea of looking for sensibility during the Stern regime is the problem.
Just sayin’
Good article on a provocative topic .
One Nation...under a groove.
There are 2 types of fans. The first type is realistic, knowledgeable and loyal. The other, is not. IAATL. It's all about the Lakers.
F Stern, for basketball reasons.
by Zen and Tonic on Dec 23, 2011 3:33 PM PST up reply actions
as a lakers fan, im happy we get him back sooner
deservedly or not. we finally got a break
Follow me: @theshmoes.
Suspension Too lenient?
I disagree with the article and the suspension. Back in the 60’s and 70’s that would have been considered a foul and nothing much more. Just a message sent. Villinaova gets the same suspension egging on a fight and going in the opposition’s locker room looking for more and the NBA says Bynum’s foul is on the same level? Maybe 2 days but 4-5 is ridiculous!
That depends on which side of it you were on.
One Nation...under a groove.
There are 2 types of fans. The first type is realistic, knowledgeable and loyal. The other, is not. IAATL. It's all about the Lakers.
F Stern, for basketball reasons.
by Zen and Tonic on Dec 23, 2011 3:24 PM PST up reply actions
I realized your intent after my post...
Thanks for confirming.
One Nation...under a groove.
There are 2 types of fans. The first type is realistic, knowledgeable and loyal. The other, is not. IAATL. It's all about the Lakers.
F Stern, for basketball reasons.
by Zen and Tonic on Dec 23, 2011 3:36 PM PST up reply actions
yeah and there are alot of P**sy a** things these days that ppl need to get over....
Sorry my 2 cents. Stern shoulda cut it even shorter due to him tommy johning us
by Sarge Clemins on Dec 23, 2011 4:39 PM PST up reply actions
Did you just compare the Bynum foul to segregation?
My goodness
by RA37thriller on Dec 23, 2011 3:42 PM PST up reply actions 1 recs
Beside the point
I do happen to think the suspension was too lenient and argued as much both before and after the suspension was levied, but how long the suspension is has nothing to do with whether the league should be shortening it based on the reasoning they’ve provided.
I'm sorry but more than 5 games for that foul is too much.
You remember how many games Raja Bell had to sit out for his clothesline?
by RA37thriller on Dec 23, 2011 3:45 PM PST up reply actions 1 recs
That situation is completely irrelevant to this one.
Bynum should have received a 10-game suspension and many people said as much when it happened.
You're only a success for the moment that you complete a successful act. - Tex Winter
Tweetness
How is that "completely irrelevant"?
10 games? hahahaha I’ll do you one better, let’s just ban the guy from basketball.
by RA37thriller on Dec 23, 2011 3:57 PM PST up reply actions
It's irrelevant because it was two different people at a different time.
Besides the fact that Kobe and Bell are similar in size, whereas Bynum is a foot taller than Barea. How can you not see that it’s different? And who said he should be banned from basketball?
You're only a success for the moment that you complete a successful act. - Tex Winter
Tweetness
Bell got Kobe in a frickin headlock. I have a very hard time differentiating the two.
And I’m sorry the size difference is for the birds. If you use that theory, then half of the time Barea drives to the basket and gets fouled it should be a flagrant or technical. He’s 5’8 for crying out loud playing in a league where the average height is 6’6!
by RA37thriller on Dec 23, 2011 4:10 PM PST up reply actions
So he should just be thrown to the floor like a ragdoll because he's playing with the "big boys"? Wow.
Driving to the basket and getting fouled equates to going for a layup and having a 285 pound dude drive his shoulder into your sternum. Yeah, makes sense to me.
And Bell didn’t get Kobe in a headlock, he clotheslined him and threw him to the floor. Also different.
You're only a success for the moment that you complete a successful act. - Tex Winter
Tweetness
Exactly. Not a big fan of contact sports I'll take it?
by RA37thriller on Dec 23, 2011 4:20 PM PST up reply actions
Which has what to do with anything?
You're only a success for the moment that you complete a successful act. - Tex Winter
Tweetness
They took away the game he lost for removing his shirt and not smiling for being kicked out.
He still gets punished (plenty) for elbowing a smack-talking-while-ahead-by-30 Barea. I never disagreed with an appropriate punishment for the foul itself, but from the beginning, it was said he was also punished for removing his jersey and walking off the court angrily. As mentioned above, Bynum’s one and off got the same penalty as Villanueva’s continued insanity.
One Nation...under a groove.
There are 2 types of fans. The first type is realistic, knowledgeable and loyal. The other, is not. IAATL. It's all about the Lakers.
F Stern, for basketball reasons.
Except that it wasn't a one-time thing for Bynum. Gerald Wallace had a collapsed lung and he did the same thing Beasley.
Bynum is getting a reputation.
You're only a success for the moment that you complete a successful act. - Tex Winter
Tweetness
No argument that the perception is there.
One Nation...under a groove.
There are 2 types of fans. The first type is realistic, knowledgeable and loyal. The other, is not. IAATL. It's all about the Lakers.
F Stern, for basketball reasons.
by Zen and Tonic on Dec 23, 2011 4:03 PM PST up reply actions
George Karl?
..time for a new Nougat game plan.
One Nation...under a groove.
There are 2 types of fans. The first type is realistic, knowledgeable and loyal. The other, is not. IAATL. It's all about the Lakers.
F Stern, for basketball reasons.
Hmmm i regular a distinct Player with glasses, get demolished by the Celtics by two players mind you
all i’m saying is during the playoffs emotions run high, and certain players wil do, just about anything to win, You can tell Bynum has learned his lesson, lets move on and see what he’s gonna bring to the table this year, myself can’t wait till Newyears day!
by LakeredXII on Dec 23, 2011 3:45 PM PST reply actions 2 recs
That was a different time from now. People keep bringing up what happened 25 years ago. It doesn't matter.
The rules of the game have changed and players need to respect them as they are today, not then.
You're only a success for the moment that you complete a successful act. - Tex Winter
Tweetness
And that's why the NBA is losing money and can't fill the arena's with fans anymore...
by RA37thriller on Dec 23, 2011 3:59 PM PST up reply actions
LOLWUT
You're only a success for the moment that you complete a successful act. - Tex Winter
Tweetness
The league's been wussified. 25 years ago the league was better.
All the ticky tack fouls now, the flopping, it’s garbage.
by RA37thriller on Dec 23, 2011 4:03 PM PST up reply actions
I was talking about the league 25 years ago compared to now.
by RA37thriller on Dec 23, 2011 4:12 PM PST up reply actions
And 30 years ago Kermit Washington shattered Rudy Tomjonavich's eye socket with a punch.
Was that okay?
You're only a success for the moment that you complete a successful act. - Tex Winter
Tweetness
Brown is starting Ebanks and McRambis* on Sunday.
*an homage
One Nation...under a groove.
There are 2 types of fans. The first type is realistic, knowledgeable and loyal. The other, is not. IAATL. It's all about the Lakers.
F Stern, for basketball reasons.
Wait, what about Barnes or Metta?
"If you have a debate with a scholar, you can win. If you have a debate with an ignorant person, you will definitely lose."
Lamar Odom - "Half Swiss-Army knife, half Pez-dispenser" Meriones
Off the bench...
Trudell announced it.
One Nation...under a groove.
There are 2 types of fans. The first type is realistic, knowledgeable and loyal. The other, is not. IAATL. It's all about the Lakers.
F Stern, for basketball reasons.
by Zen and Tonic on Dec 23, 2011 4:11 PM PST up reply actions
I know that...
I’m asking why aren’t Barnes or Metta starting?
"If you have a debate with a scholar, you can win. If you have a debate with an ignorant person, you will definitely lose."
Lamar Odom - "Half Swiss-Army knife, half Pez-dispenser" Meriones
FrankenPeace was benched anyway, but I think Ebanks showed more on Monday than Barnes.
You're only a success for the moment that you complete a successful act. - Tex Winter
Tweetness
Enough to start him over Barnes?
Interesting. Hope he does well.
"If you have a debate with a scholar, you can win. If you have a debate with an ignorant person, you will definitely lose."
Lamar Odom - "Half Swiss-Army knife, half Pez-dispenser" Meriones
OMG that word image LMAO
FrankenPeace
One Nation...under a groove.
There are 2 types of fans. The first type is realistic, knowledgeable and loyal. The other, is not. IAATL. It's all about the Lakers.
F Stern, for basketball reasons.
by Zen and Tonic on Dec 23, 2011 4:20 PM PST up reply actions
No word from Brown yet, but it appears Devin earned the start over Barnes.
Metta is captain of the second team and it appears Brown meant that.
One Nation...under a groove.
There are 2 types of fans. The first type is realistic, knowledgeable and loyal. The other, is not. IAATL. It's all about the Lakers.
F Stern, for basketball reasons.
by Zen and Tonic on Dec 23, 2011 4:18 PM PST up reply actions
Minnesota Timberwolves guard J.J. Barea said he was “OK” with the NBA’s decision today to reduce Los Angeles Lakers center Andrew Bynum’s five-game suspension to four games for his flagrant hit on Barea in last season’s Western Conference semifinals.
The 5-foot-11 Barea was playing for Dallas when Bynum slammed him to the floor late in the fourth quarter on Barea’s drive to the basket in the decisive Game 4 of the series in Dallas.
“He didn’t really mean it,” Barea said of Bynum’s hit, which generated an outcry around the league. “It was in the heat of the moment. He apologized to me later. He’s a good dude.”
But he will kill you if you keep talking smack when up by 30.
One Nation...under a groove.
There are 2 types of fans. The first type is realistic, knowledgeable and loyal. The other, is not. IAATL. It's all about the Lakers.
F Stern, for basketball reasons.
for a big DOOD to do that shit.....
‘shakes head’
by Sarge Clemins on Dec 23, 2011 6:10 PM PST up reply actions
Matt should have raised that knee up and made it count.
"Winning takes talent; to repeat takes character." - John Wooden
Hmmm...
"If you have a debate with a scholar, you can win. If you have a debate with an ignorant person, you will definitely lose."
Lamar Odom - "Half Swiss-Army knife, half Pez-dispenser" Meriones
I wish the league would punish this kind of blatant acting
Even if it was the day after with a fine or technical (w/ fine), something to discourage this crap.
When Mo got pushed to the ground by nothing but air on his drive to the basket near the end of the preseason game vs the Lakers, it made me lose some respect for him. You could say its just a strategic way to play the game, but it is a method of lying in my opinion (and borderline cheating), no different than if a player goes to a ref and lies to the ref saying another player called them a racial slur, or if a player fakes an injury after being hit and gives fake medical report details to the NBA to make the injury seem worse in order ti get the offending player a stiffer penalty. I know no cases of the two latter cases happening (and I am certainly not implying anyone did those things), but if lying and blatantly faking stuff is just “part of the game” I wonder where the line is drawn because it should not be tolerated at all.
Come on.
EVERYBODY flops in the NBA. Even big men.
Clippers // Chargers // Rays // Boise State
"The Lakers do win games. But things can change." - Blake Griffin
I get mad when Lakers flop too,
that shit doesn’t belong on the court, it’s essentially cheating. Everybody doing it doesn’t change the fact it’s bad for the game.
We have to think of this in context of Bynum's previous actions toward Micheal Beasley.
He pulled an almost worse move on Beasley not two months earlier and showed no remorse for it in the moment.
Standing alone the Barea foul isn’t worth 5 games, but coupled with the Beasley foul it is.
"Winning takes talent; to repeat takes character." - John Wooden
I really hope this aint the league's sorry ass way of apologizing over the CP fiasco.
"If you’re afraid to fail, then you’re probably going to fail. You know what I mean? Fuck it." -- Kobe "Black Mamba" Bryant
They'll never apologize for that.
You're only a success for the moment that you complete a successful act. - Tex Winter
Tweetness
With the way things have been going,
Bynum will come back and play in the 5th game and get injured.
and don’t say i’ve jinxed him, cuz i typed this while crossing my fingers, knocking on wood, kissing a rabbits tail, holding a 4 leaf clover & doing everything else that gives you good luck.
"What we want to remember—what we will remember—is the indelible vision of Kobe, his arms outstretched, delirious with joy and disbelief, running after and grabbing hold of Lamar Odom’s floating downcourt pass, while all the purple and gold streamers in the world are raining down on the hardwood." - Brian Tung
Good for Stern
In a shortened season, a 5 game suspension to your 2nd or 3rd best player is asinine. Just wish he had made it a 3 game suspension.
Andrew Bynum
will this be the year, we change his name from Andrew Bynum to B17! just feels like he’s gonna be dropping bombs this year! Bring in the New Years with a bang. just think if we had these kind of shooters last year we might have gone way further. but this is a new year, Kobe is healthy again, and the team looks pretty hungry. we essentially lost one pretty good player in odom, but we gain a outside shooting arsenal. i like our odds, with the Lakers through good and bad!!
One more game for Bynum?
Means one additional game to show him off to the Magic. My glass is half full.
btw…as a fan it’s never cool to wish injury on another player and I hope Lopez gets well soon. But I think that just improved the Lakers’ chances on landing Dwight.
I apologize if you get mad by what I say, let me know when you take the stick out of your ass so I can continue commenting.
it's illogical I agree
At first I thought that it was a legitimate grievance that Bynum had, but now I see that, if anything, this is just a continuation of the league looking out for the interests of its teams over the players.
For Bynum (and Charlie V), the length of their suspensions shouldn’t be changed, both from a financial perspective and for basketball reasons.
Sidebar: Ha! basketball reasons was used legitimately on SSR probably for the first time this month – mark this day down!
For the teams, however, the shortened season means that the suspensions of their “product” hurts their bottom line higher, and that, I believe, is what was deemed unfair by the league.
it’s not ethically right, or logical, but then the league hasn’t really been accused of either of those things recently.
I'm always thinking one step ahead. Like a carpenter, that makes stairs. -The Office
by Jonny Somers-Harris on Dec 24, 2011 7:48 AM PST reply actions
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